


Fairy tales and How Three Couples Deal with Them

by ChessSilven



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: F/M, I'm really sorry Medusa/Stein fans I bite at writing a romance for them, Light descriptions of brain dissection, Mild to heavy fluff, No characters are singing- this is just a story built around the lyrics of a song, Other various weird stuff, Roleplaying mentions, Song fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 20:40:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4319877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChessSilven/pseuds/ChessSilven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A song fic of 'Wonderland' by Natalia Kills.<br/>As you can probably guess from the title and the pairings, this is showing some of the lives of three couples. Crona and Maka, Stein and Medusa, and Free and Eruka.<br/>Crona and Maka go through a lot of small trials in their relationship which is woven together with a lot of sickly sweet fluff, but will Maka inadvertently cause Crona to leave her?<br/>Free has a peculiar kink... Find out with Eruka what it is and why he has it.<br/>Medusa knows that she'll never get together with Stein in any normal way... So of course the first thing that comes to her mind is to mess with Stein's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fairy tales and How Three Couples Deal with Them

**Author's Note:**

> First off, I should probably explain how this works.  
> Maka and Crona's story is set a few months after the defeat of the Kishin, and they're gonna basically be pure fluff with a little bit of angst mixed in for good measure.  
> Free and Eruka's story is set back when Medusa was forcing Crona to spy on the Academy for her, and they're gonna have some sexual suggestions... nothing major.  
> Medusa and Stein's story is set in a weird time that never really happened, but if it had it would have probably have been about the same time as Free and Eruka's. Their story is definitely gonna be suggestive.  
> I must apologize to all Medusa/Stein and Free/Eruka fans, I don't really ship either [especially not Medusa/Stein], so their stories aren't as long or detailed as Crona and Maka's.  
> I don't own Soul Eater or Wonderland.

   A small hooded figure walks silently through a dark forest, her tiny feet barely leaving marks on the leaf-covered ground. She looks all around, obviously searching for someone. “Stein?” Mad chuckles echo through the trees as the child Medusa calls out, a flash of annoyance briefly flickering across her face at the mocking sound.  
   “Well, well. You’ve shrunk since we last met, haven’t you?” More soft cackles, the doctor’s voice continuously shifting from place to place. “Now, what’s that story where the character grows and shrinks constantly… Are you Snow White, is that it?”  
    Medusa rolls her eyes, exasperated. “That would be Alice that you’re thinking of, I believe.” The little girl continues walking through the creaking woods, the tall trees casting huge shadows that shift and writhe on the ground. Medusa looks around for any indications of where she is… Everything looked the same. _‘How irritating._ _**I’m not Snow White, but I’m lost inside this forest**_ …’

* * *

  
    Eruka pulled her red cloak tighter around her as she approached the bed, wondering why Free had this particular quirk. The werewolf was lying on her bed, her green blankets pulled up to his square chin and a… was that a bonnet? Yes, it was. Eruka raised an eyebrow as she sat down next to him. “Wow.”  
    “Hello, Red.” Free said, his tone at a very unbelievable high-pitch, then gave her an encouraging nod. Eruka sighed and decided to just roll with it.  
    “Hello, grandmother. You’re sounding worse today, have you been taking your medicine?”  
    "Oh, yes, my dear.” Free shifted under the covers, one large hand reaching up to readjust the drooping bonnet.  
    “Oh, my. What a large hand you have, grandmother. And it’s pretty hairy, too.” Eruka hid a smirk as Free shot her a wounded look.  
    “All the better to scratch my itches with, my dear. And you can’t expect your poor old granny to go and wax when she’s ill, can you?”  
    “Oh, my. What large eyes you have, grandmother!” Free smiled widely, pleased that the conversation had headed back on track.  
    “All the better to see you with, my dear.” Eruka blushed as Free’s eyes raked over her, almost feeling his gaze caressing her.  
    “Wh-what large ears you have, grandmother!” Eruka stammered as she tried to get her mind back on the…what had her boyfriend called it… role playing game. She reached forward and brushed the bonnet off of his head, revealing his… well, rather large, pointed ears, her fingertips brushing over the tip of one.  
    “All the better to hear you with, my dear.”  
    “Oh, my! What very large teeth you have, grandmother!” The young witch watched, almost hypnotized, as the giant werewolf shifted his face and grinned, revealing a muzzlefull of sharp teeth.  
    “All the better to eat you with… my dear.” Free pounced, pinning Eruka underneath him. She started giggling at the sight of the muscular man in a frilly nightgown, but her laughter was silenced as Free shifted his face back and pressed his lips to hers. ‘ _ **I’m not Red Riding Hood, but I think my wolf has caught me**_ …’

* * *

  
   Maka was finishing up getting ready for her date with Crona, pulling her hair up into her usual sensible pigtails and pulling on her long black jacket. She nodded in approval as she buttoned down the front and made sure her tie was centered, brushing wrinkles out of her skirt and tightening the laces on her heavy black boots before standing to look in the mirror.  
   “Well, you’re ready for a good fight, that’s for sure.” Soul’s slow drawl startled Maka, the Maister turning to look at her partner.  
   “What do you mean?”  
   “You’re going on a date, right?” Maka nodded, a smile curving her lips up. Even though she and Crona had technically been a couple for several months now, the swordsman had suddenly up and asked her out to lunch. It was the sort of thing that Crona still wasn’t completely comfortable with, so the fact that he had broached the question had touched her. When she had accepted, Crona had had the oddest expression on his face; a mixture of fear, happiness, and excitement, his silver eyes glowing.  
   “Well, I usually dress up a little. You know, the whole suit and tie thing.” Soul eyed her skeptically. “You look like you’re getting ready to go on a mission.”  
   Maka frowned and looked in the mirror again as Soul blinked and raised his hands. “But, you know what, that’s just me. I really shouldn’t have said anything; that was seriously uncool. You look nice.”  
   Maka absently heard Soul walk off, her mind going over what he had just said. _‘He’s right, I really do look like I’m going off to school. I should change… but Crona’s going to be here any time now.’_ She walked over to her closet, pulling out one of her few dresses and the only pair of ‘dressy’ shoes that she had; a clear set of stilettos, a gift from her father.  
    She heard the doorbell ring just as she was about to start unbuttoning her jacket, her heart sinking as she quickly walked to the door. _‘I hope Crona doesn’t mind… I mean, come on! Soul just pointed out the obvious. He’d probably prefer to go out with a prettier girl, one who puts on makeup and actually wears a dress on their first date, instead of a flat-chested, army-boot wearing, scarred fighter like me.‘_  
   She took a deep breath and opened the door. Sure enough, there on the doorstep stood her thin boyfriend, his white suit framing his lithe figure nicely. He held up a small bouquet of white roses, a blush on his cheeks as he stared at his shoes. “Th-these are f-for you, M-Maka.” Maka smiled faintly, her stomach sinking further upon seeing that even Crona, the boy who hadn’t even known what a hug was, had known to dress up slightly; his upturned collar had a silver ribbon tied around it, a comical Lord Death skull pendant hanging from the center.  
    It wasn’t much, but Crona had the reasonable excuse that he didn’t own very many outfits… in fact, this white suit and his normal black robe were the only two sets of clothing that he owned. She accepted the flowers and set them in the sink with some water, going back over to the door, where Crona’s gaze had never left the floor. Ragnaroc popped out of his back and growled something in his ear, bouncing a ball of a fist off of his head before retreating back into Crona’s blood. Crona finally looked up, his silver eyes anxious. “D-do I look okay? R-Ragnaroc says that I sh-should have-“ the young swordsman broke off, his eyes widening in awe. “W-wow. M-Maka, you look b-beautiful…”  
    Maka smiled at his soft voice, hearing nothing but adoring love in his tone. Crona slowly walked over to offer her his hand, a gentle smile creeping over his face as she immediately accepted it, then pulled him into a warm hug. _‘I should have known that Crona accepts and loves me for who I am. **I don’t need stilettos** or dresses to appeal to him, **I am not Cinderella** and he doesn’t expect or want me to be, if I don’t want to.’_

* * *

  
    Medusa growled and exited Stein’s mind, pacing the room that they were in. Stein cackled, his insane grin widening at her displeasure. “Well, if you won’t let me control you from inside your mind, I suppose that I have no other choice but to attempt to gain access from the outside.” Medusa's smile rivaled Stein’s for eeriness, her cold grin temporarily quieting his giggles before they returned, twice as hard as before.  
   “Can’t do that,” he said, voice semi- monotone. “I’ve got my magic armor on.” The girl gave him a calculating stare, her head tilting to one side as Stein tittered again, tapping his head. “Can’t touch this!”  
   “Oh, really? What do you mean, ‘magic armor’?”  
   Stein tugged at his shirt, the canvas of stitched fabrics flapping slightly at his movements. “My armor is impenetrable.”  
   “How interesting…” Medusa's smile never faltered as she stepped up to him, a scalpel in her hand, and added, “ ** _I don’t need a knight_** , so feel free to scream as loud as you care to.” She leaned in close, lips next to his ear as she whispered, “ ** _Come on, doctor… take off all your armor_**.” Stein chuckled and nodded, slowly stripping for her. When he was lying bare in front of her, Medusa smiled and began to cut, the mad scientist’s agonized cries filling the air…

* * *

  
  Eruka couldn’t believe how many different outfits Free had, or that the muscular man was so into play-acting. He had talked her into another game while she was distracted…    
  She blushed as she remembered how the wolf had ‘eaten’ her, then asked her with his huge puppy eyes as she was still calming down. She had agreed without a protest, something she was considering regretting now.  
  Eruka didn’t even want to know why he had an identical outfit to Lady Medusa’s hooded uniform, or why it was in his role playing closet, but it was severely freaking her out to wear the odd outfit, not to mention it was uncomfortable compared to her nice, loose dress. “How can Lady Medusa bear to wear this?”  
                                   Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.  
   She looked towards the door, where the heavy footsteps were drawing closer. The handle turned and a tall figure in head-to-toe armor stood there, the visor of his helmet down. “Have at thee, evil witch. The forces of good shall always triumph over your trickery.”  
   Eruka and Free stared at each other for a few minutes before cracking up, his noble speech a bunch of hooey seeing as how they were both technically villains. Free recovered first, drawing a long gold sword from his belt and aiming it at Eruka. Eruka smiled and dodged his attack, the blade slamming into the floor where she had been. “Oh, but good, kind sir knight… However could you hurt an innocent girl like me?”  
    “Thou art no innocent… my lady.” Free was smirking under his helmet, she could hear it in his voice. “Thou hast cursed this land with a curse of despair for too long. Medusa Gorgon, I call thou out for the cold-hearted witch that thou art!”  
    Eruka was torn between being deeply disturbed that he was having her play the part of her cruel mistress, and wanting to enjoy walking in the more powerful witch’s shoes for a little while. The urge to enjoy pretending to be Medusa won over, and Eruka let herself get swept away in their little game. She straightened up, folded her arms, and gave Free Lady Medusa’s trademark cold stare. “How interesting. So you believe that you will win this fight merely because you think that you have more good in you than I do?”  
    “Quite so, witch.” Free swung his sword again, but this time Eruka was ready for him. She muttered her own magic phrase first, feeling the magic running through her veins awaken at her words, then in a louder tone she continued, “Snake snake cobra co-bera!”  
    Free yelped in surprise as a nearby rope- she wasn’t sure she wanted to know why that was in his room either- wrapped itself around his legs and yanked them out from under him, sending the werewolf sprawling to the floor. “You see, the problem with your theory is that it’s wrong. Good very rarely wins in reality, it just thinks it does.” Eruka was actually quoting Lady Medusa, having heard the older witch lecturing to a small class during witch mass at one point. They had been considering defecting to the ‘good guys’ side after a particularly hard attack from the DWMA had killed over ten witches, but after hearing Lady Medusa’s inspiring speech they had instead gone on to strike back at the academy and had taken out a large amount of students there.  
    “Do your worst, witch. I shall never admit defeat to the likes of you.” She had to admit that he was playing the part of valorous hero to a T, an impressive feat for a villain to pull off. Eruka had the ropes coil up around his arms and chest, binding him tightly.  
    _‘Now what?’_ she wondered. Then an almost wicked smile etched itself across her face as an idea popped into her head. _‘I don’t actually have to cast a spell for him to have to follow it, since we are just playing. Oh, this should be interesting…’_  
   “Snake snake, cobra co-bera!” Free looked around curiously, obviously wondering what ‘Medusa’ had just done. “Do you know what I just did?”  
   “Nothing shall deter me from my righteous path, evil woman. I will prevail over any hardship that thou shalt throw in my way, and thou shalt see how the good win over the villainous scum of the earth such as thyself.” Eruka’s smile just widened.  
    “Really? You see, one of my lovely snakes has just taken up residence in your mind, which means that anything I want you to do… you don’t have a choice in doing. I fail to see how being good is any longer an option for you.” Free gasped dramatically, then clenched his fists.  
     “I will never give in, Medusa, mark my words!” Eruka looked him over, then flicked her fingers. The ropes slithered away quickly, leaving the giant werewolf kneeling on the floor.  
    “Get up.”  
    Free slowly stood, Eruka circling him as he did so. “Now, you’re going to be my new servant, but **_I don’t need a knight, so Sir Free… take off all your armor_**.” Free obeyed, removing his helmet first and working his way down from there. He made a noble attempt to hide it, but his grin kept creeping out, the werewolf obviously pleased that she had won.  
    Free concentrated and managed to keep a scowl on his face for a few minutes. “One day, my sword _will_ pierce you, witch!”  
    “I look forward to it.”

* * *

  
    Maka and Crona had finished their lunch and were walking back to Maka’s apartment through the Death City Park, easily strolling through the gorgeous woods.  
    They were about halfway through the park when Maka noticed that Crona was fidgeting a little worse than usual, his cheeks a little flushed. “Are you okay?”  
    “Wh-what? Oh… y-yeah… I’m f-fine.” Crona stammered, staring at the ground. Maka didn’t quite believe him, but they continued on nevertheless. Soon, Crona was fidgeting so much he was almost dancing as he walked.  
     “Crona, what’s going on?” Maka asked, concerned for the obviously uncomfortable swordsman.  
     “N-nothing…”  
     Ragnaroc made his first appearance for a while, x eyes glaring at his Maister. “Moron. He’s gotta piss, that’s all.”  
     “R-Ragnaroc!”  
     “What? Would you prefer to do it in your pants, now that you’re finally wearing some?”  
     “Wh-what? No!”  
     “Then shut the hell up and find a bathroom, you moron! If I have to put up with your whining how you ‘can’t deal with soiled pants’ all the way home, I’m gonna find something gross and shove it in your mouth tonight!”  
     “D-don’t do that, I might choke!” Maka decided to intervene, interrupting the Maister and Weapon’s squabble.  
     “I’m pretty sure that there’s a bathroom back up the road a few yards.” She watched in amusement as Crona turned bright red and nodded before trotting back the way that they had come, still arguing with Ragnaroc as they went. Seeing a bench nearby, she went to go sit down, relaxing against the hard slats.  
      Suddenly, she felt something flicker in her mind; the sharp stabbing sensation of a human soul going out. Using her soul perception, she ‘looked’ around. There! About twenty yards that way was a kishin egg, the evil soul seeming quite pleased with itself. Without stopping to think that she didn’t have Soul there with her, Maka ran in the direction that the wanna-be kishin was.  
     A large blob of flesh slowly stomped around in a clearing, barely recognizable as having a semi-human shape. It was about six feet tall and five feet wide, its stumpy legs as wide around as tree trunks and its head barely poking out over the enormous torso. The only defined feature on the…man, was his hands; huge, strong, masculine hands that were constantly opening and closing as though desiring something to grab.  
     Maka gasped slightly on seeing the man, her disgust slightly outweighing her caution. At the small sound the figure swung around and began waddling towards her, gaining speed with each step. It was right about then that Maka suddenly realized that she didn’t have a Weapon, and decided to lead it back towards Crona; turning and fleeing before the behemoth.  
     “Wanna eeeeeat you.” The voice was a deep rumble, though the way he spoke was almost child-like. “Come baaaack.”  
     “Thanks, but no thanks.”  
     “Awwwww…”  
     The man was seriously fast, keeping pace with her as she ran full out. Maka wasn’t slow in any sense of the word, in fact she was one of the fastest runners in the DWMA, so the fact that the wanna-be kishin beside her was able to keep up with her was…unsettling, to say the least. “Hungry… Sooooo hungry.”  
     “Crona!” Maka yelled, trying to let her boyfriend know where she was. “Crona! Over here!”  
     “Crona taste goooood?” The man cut her off as she tried to run to the right, forcing her to dash in the opposite direction. “CROOOOOH-NAAAAAAH… WANNA EAT YOU TOOOOOOO…”  
    Maka cursed loudly as she discovered that the large man had been herding her towards a steep cliff wall, the sheer hill side running in a wide U. There wasn’t any way for her to avoid him now, the kishin egg blocking the only way back out of the box-like trap she was in. “If you want to play, let’s play.” She ran towards him, intending to use his enormous body to flip herself over and out back into the forest, but when she jumped up to grab hold of his flabby shoulders, her hands sank into his skin.  
   The flesh solidified around her hands leaving her stuck in him, her face unfortunately only inches away from his. So she had a great view when his jaw unhinged and pushed the top of his head up… and up… and up, until there was at least a foot of space between his bottom jaw and the rest of his head and mouth, letting her see his two rows of sharp yellowed teeth.  
   His skin softened and let her fall to the ground, one of his huge hands grabbing her around her torso and throwing her into the sheer rock faces of the hill. Maka saw stars as her head cracked painfully against the stone, but rolled under the mound of man to start sprinting back into the park forest again.  
   “NOOOOOO!” the man howled, the sound uncomfortably loud coming from his unnaturally open mouth. “Gonna eat you, girl. And Croh-naaaaah!” Maka stumbled more often as she ran, wincing as she felt blood trickle down the side of her head from where her head had hit the stone. Her vision was beginning to darken on the edges when she ran into Crona, both tumbling to the ground.  
    “M-Maka? Are you alright? Ragnaroc and I h-heard you calling, but we c-couldn’t-“ he stopped, his silver eyes slowly darkening to a dangerous stormy grey. He ran a gentle finger over the side of her head, instantly apologizing as Maka winced as he touched the wound. “What h-happened?”  
     “Giiiiiiirl! Where’d you goooo? Wanna eat youuuuu…” the kishin egg sped past them, skidding to a halt a few meters off and waddling back. “You Croh-nah?”  
     Crona slowly stood, eyes still fixed on the thin line of blood running down Maka’s cheek. “Did you do this?” His stammer was gone, replaced by cold fury.  
     “Look tasty. Maybe even more tasty than girl.” The man peered at Maka, one huge finger poking at the blood on her face before either Crona or Maka could react, the wanna-be kishin actually licking her blood off of her finger like it was honey. “Maybe not. She tastes gooooood.”  
      Crona let out a roar of pure hatred, Ragnaroc sliding out of his wrist into his hand. “How dare you!” He ran forward and slashed a huge gash in the man’s stomach, wet sand-like goo sliding out of the wound, continuing to flow out onto the ground as the kishin egg laughed.  
      “Tickles!”  
      “Ragnaroc! Screech Alpha!” Ragnaroc’s creepy lips popped out of the sword blade, pursing momentarily before screeching at a torturously high level, Crona’s pained scream adding to their unique version of soul resonance. The swordsman raised the vibrating sword, a purple glow growing around the Weapon, and sliced down. The kishin egg blinked and staggered a step towards them before he fell apart into two pieces, the odd wet sand like ooze flowing out of the two halves to pool around Crona and Maka’s feet. Ragnaroc dissipated as Crona quickly hurried back to Maka’s side, helping her to stand up.  
      “I’m so sorry!” Crona’s large grey eyes filled with tears as he saw the wound on her head more clearly, very carefully cleaning it off with his sleeve as he continued to apologize, his mumbled words growing more and more guilty. He didn’t seem to hear Maka as she tried to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, instead turning tail and taking off into the forest.  
     She managed to find him by using her soul perception, the process taking a lot longer than it usually would have because he had put up a sort of mental wall around his soul, hiding it from her. However, since she knew Crona so well, she was still able to catch a hint of his essence, following it to find the gentle teen. He was curled up, his back against the tree as he rocked back and forth, murmuring a string of nonsensical words to himself as Ragnaroc pounded on his head, yelling at him to stop being such a damn baby.  
     “Crona?” Ragnaroc went back inside Crona’s blood to give them some semblance of privacy as Maka sat down next to the whimpering boy.  
    “It’s my fault… you got hurt.”  
    “No it’s not.”  
    “Yes, it is! If I hadn’t had to use the bathroom, then Ragnaroc and I would have been there to protect you!”  
    “Crona.” Maka tilted his head up to look him in his tearful dark grey eyes. “Everyone has to use the bathroom. It was just bad luck that this happened. Okay?” She frowned slightly as his eyes darted away from hers to stare at the ground, her frown only deepening as she found that the walls around his soul were still up at full strength. “Hey, I’m tough. **_I don’t need a knight_** all the time; I can on occasion actually defend myself.”  
     A small smile twitched at the corner of Crona’s mouth at Maka’s teasing sarcasm, making a much larger smile grow on Maka’s lips. She leaned over to bump him on the shoulder. “ ** _So, wanna take off your strong armor_**?”  
      Inquisitive silver eyes peeked up at her, confusion clear in the pale orbs. “B-but I’m not w-wearing armor. All I’m w-wearing is my uniform…”  
     Crona’s eyes bulged, the thin boy beginning to shake slightly. “Is th-that what you’re wanting m-me to take off?”  
    Maka shook her head emphatically; Crona relaxing somewhat as she did so, though a small part of her brain that was controlled by her evil side and her hormones was rooting for a yes. “No, no. I wanted to know if you wanted to resonate souls. You’ve got a sort of wall surrounding yours, so I can’t touch it.”  
   “Oh…” Crona squeezed his eyes shut, his brow wrinkling in concentration. One silver sliver cracked open. “Is that better?”  
    Maka looked at his soul, but the wall was still there. She shook her head, then had an idea. Scooting up until their sides were touching, Maka suddenly gave Crona a firm hug, the timid boy squeaking in surprise before relaxing and hugging her back. She smiled as the wall between their two souls dissipated, allowing her to touch his soul.  
     Touching his soul was always amazing… she could literally feel some of the qualities that made up Crona’s personality; fear, low self-confidence, bubbling madness, bravery, firm loyalty, an unending sea of gentleness, and an amazingly large amount of love and trust for someone who had been tortured and experimented on by all the people that he had met up until a few months ago. His soul felt a little cold to her soul, not an uncomfortable icy cold, more like the cool chill of AC in the heat of summer. It also had a rather unusual coloring; the same silver blue as his eyes were when he was happy and comfortable… which is what he apparently was feeling now, his silvery-blue eyes full of adoring love as he gazed at her. For some reason, Crona and his soul always put Maka in mind of a puppy; loyal to the end, eager for a kind word or action, never asking, only giving, pretty darn frisky when he was in a really good mood, and he somehow managed to pull off the cutest sad eyes that she had ever seen when he really wanted something.  
   “Th-thanks, Maka.”

* * *

  
    Crona smiled happily as he felt Maka’s soul settle beside his, the presence comforting. Her soul never failed to awe him, a trait shared by the soul’s owner. He could almost… feel what made Maka Maka; an unbreakable will, strength of mind and body, undying bravery, fierce determination, soft concern, warm love, and a large portion of protectiveness.  
    He sighed and unconsciously snuggled up a little closer to his girlfriend, humming in contentment as one of her hands ran through his cropped hair. Her soul almost reminded him of a cat; a soft, warm, comforting ball of beauty and strength.  
   Of course, her soul also deferred from a cat in that Maka was almost constantly worried or trying to help someone else instead of herself. She also didn’t believe that she was pretty, something that Crona tried to help her understand was just plain ridiculous every time he saw her. It wasn’t just her looks, though those dazzled him every time he looked at her; it was her personality too- who she was.  
    Maka had given him his first hug, his first kiss, his first kind word, she was his first friend, his first love… The list of all of the wonderful firsts that she had granted him could go on for infinity.  
    “Hey M-Maka…” He almost wished he hadn’t spoken as the hand in his hair stopped moving, Maka leaning back to look at him.  
    “Yes?”  
    “Soul, K-Kid and Black Star were t-talking the other day… I d-don’t think that they kn-knew I could hear them.” Maka smiled and ran her gloved fingers through his hair again.  
    “I’m pretty sure that they wouldn’t mind, Crona. If you feel too bad about it, then just go up and tell them that you overheard their conversation.” Crona stiffened and looked at her worriedly, the thought that they could be mad that he had listened to their private conversation never having occurred to them before. He pulled away and began absently tugging on his hair, his anxiety dragging him down close to the reach of depression.  
   “Oh no, oh no oh no… I hadn’t thought of that…”  
   Maka cursed softly, then a comforting hand settled between his shoulder blades and began to gently rub up and down his back, the contact soothing. “I’m sorry; I misunderstood what you wanted to tell me. What were you going to say next?” Crona bit his lip, trying to organize his scattered, frazzled thoughts from where they were cowering in the various corners of his mind, finally catching the one that he was searching for.  
   “W-well, when they were talking, th-they said that we were l-like a fairytale. I just w-wondered which fairytale that you think that th-they were t-t-talking about.” He mentally crossed his fingers, hoping that she thought it was a good fairytale; hopefully not one where everyone died. Maka scowled at her shoes, Crona gulping at the thought that he might have made her angry.  
    Maka looked over and saw his expression, her own quickly smoothing out as she sighed heavily. “Um… they didn’t specify?”  
    “W-well, Soul thought our story w-was kinda like Rapunzel, Kid w-went w-with the Frog Prince, and B-Black Star said that he was too awesome to read fairytales.”  
   Maka sighed again as she leaned back against the tree, head tilting back to rest against the bark. “I somewhat agree with both Soul and Kid’s choices; our story is a mixture of those two stories. Rapunzel has the evil witch, for Medusa, who keeps the protagonist of the story, that’s you, locked away from the rest of the world. The Frog Prince has the unloved frog, that’s you, helping the ungrateful princess, that’s me, until they finally get together in the end and he turns into a handsome prince.” Maka sighed yet again, then turned to glance at Crona. “What would your choice/choices be?”  
   Crona smiled sadly, running his hand through his hair again. “That’s easy. Beauty and the Beast. **_I’d be the beast, and you’d be the beauty_** , obviously. The beautiful girl saves the monstrous freak from his darker nature, and both finally find happiness and love in the end.”  
   Maka frowned again, a spark flashing in her eyes at his words, but before she could reprimand him on being disparaging towards himself, he gently touched a finger to her lips. “We both know that it’s true.” He felt his smile change, the adoration and pure love that he felt for her slipping out onto his face for the world to see. “You saved me.”

* * *

  
   Stein had long since fallen silent, though Medusa hadn’t bothered to anesthetize the poor doctor while she cut open his skull and prodded his brain. She figured that he had either fallen unconscious from the agony, or the pain sensors in his brain were just so overloaded that they had just shut down.  
   Medusa took a small syringe and injected some of the new and improved black blood into the part of his brain that Stein didn’t use, watching in fascination as the pink flesh darkened. The black coloring oozed along the blood in the brain segment that she had infected, going on to infest the rest of the brain. “How interesting. That worked far quicker than I had anticipated.”  
    Medusa shrugged and hopped off of the stool she was standing on so that she was at eye level with the widely-grinning mad scientist that she had strapped to her table. “Stein, how do you feel?”  
    “There’s a lot of pain…” He giggled softly, wide eyes gazing at her in frantic need. “I want to dissect something… I want to dissect you…”  
    Medusa ignored him, going back to working on his brain. The self-inflicted screw was an ingenious method of concentrating- he had somehow configured his own brain so that specific muscles that worked on solving problems would tense as he tightened the screw, relaxing as he loosened it.  
    She used her scalpel to gently slice a long cut through the portion of his brain responsible for hatred, pulling that out and transferring the piece over to the section responsible for love and splicing the two together. Medusa got back off of the stool again. “Stein, how do you feel?”  
    “Like I still would enjoy dissecting you.” She removed the small portion of hatred related brain matter, setting the blob of flesh back into its original spot and taking out a different piece. Medusa repeated this process another seven times before her question got a different reply.  
    “Stein, how do you feel?”  
    “I feel… like I would enjoy taking you out of that lab coat and showing you how to really experiment.” Lust filled the doctor’s eyes as he stared at her, a sight that turned the witch on even though he was strapped to a table with the top of his head sitting on the table beside him.  
    “How interesting…” Medusa carefully sewed his forehead back together, smirking in satisfaction as she undid the clasps holding him to the table. The doctor slowly got to his feet, muscles flexing as he stretched, the various stitches on his torso and limbs pale slashes against his somewhat tanned skin.  
    Her skin prickled with goose bumps at the fiery look he gave her, gasping as his strong hand slammed her up against a nearby wall, Stein’s eyes dangerous as they burned into her. Then Medusa smiled as Stein finally smashed their lips together, his tongue mercilessly ransacking her mouth.  
    This was what the witch had wanted for quite some time, though she would have preferred that this had happened when she had her own body, not some little girl’s. As Stein continued to ravage her mouth, his hands running over her body suggestively, Medusa was surprised to find feelings of saddened regret. _‘How ridiculous. The end results justify the means… Just because Stein didn’t come to his senses and join me by my side when he had the chance, and I ended up having to… change his mind, so to speak, for him, shouldn’t make me feel the slightest bit guilty. In fact, I should be feeling quite pleased right now. After all, **who needs true love as long as Stein loves me truly?** ’_ She frowned, realizing that she didn’t actually know if she had managed to make the mad scientist fall in love with her or not, all she knew was that he wanted to make love with her. That question was answered a moment later, though, as they stopped kissing to catch their breaths.  
   “Medusa Gorgon you damn witch, you’ve stolen my heart.” Medusa smirked as she wondered if she was going to turn the somewhat morally bound scientist into a pedophile by the time that this was over…  
   

* * *

  
    Maka smiled at her boyfriend as he trotted ahead to the door of the apartment building that she lived in, holding it open for her with a small, adorable smile of his own. “Thank you, Crona.”  
   “N-no problem.”  
   “So, what would you like to do when we get back to the room?” Maka asked him as they walked up the stairs, Crona flushing slightly and shrugging. “We could read, or watch a movie, or talk, or play a game…” Maka trailed off, the two having made it to Maka, Soul and Blair’s apartment.  
    From behind the closed door, the Maisters could hear several loud voices, sounding like they were having a grand old time, laughter and various odd clanking and crashing noises audible from the other end of the hall. “What in the world?”  
    Maka unlocked the door and stepped in, Crona right behind her. Soul and Black Star were wrestling on the living room floor, all of the furniture crammed to one side of the room, while Tsubaki and Hero watched from a safe distance.  
    “Hey, Mak-umph!” Soul grunted as Black Star used his distraction to sweep his legs out from under him, sending the Scythe slamming into the ground.  
    “Um, hi… Why are you two doing this in here? I thought we went over what are and are not correct indoor activities after you guys tried to play hockey and ended up breaking three of our windows.”  
    “How many windows do you all have?” Hero asked, the blonde boy’s tone curious.  
    “Three.”  
    “Oh.”  
    “I’m sorry about this, Maka. They felt that fighting in an enclosed space would be more of a challenge…” Tsubaki explained, the older girl looking embarrassed.  
    “It’s alright.”  
    “You look nice, Maka.” She blinked, caught off balance by Hero’s sudden complement.  
    “Thanks… you do too.” Maka wondered why Hero was there, the Maister a nice enough boy, but not somebody that anyone in her group of friends was good friends with. As if he had read her mind, Hero smiled weakly and awkwardly waved, moving to leave.  
    “Bye, guys.”  
    “Oh, bye Hero. Thanks for helping us move that piano over to the school.” Soul grinned, having gotten Black Star in a firm headlock.  
    “Sure, anytime.” Hero gave another weak wave as he headed towards the door, pausing to look back as Soul threw Black Star into the wall. Maka gave the wrestling boys a deadly glare.  
    “Soul, if you or Black Star break anything, so help me I will Maka-chop you into next week.” Both boys blanched and eased up on their fight, Maka reflecting on how useful it was to have a sufficiently terrifying threat that worked almost all of the time. She smiled, somewhat surprised as a cold hand slipped into hers, Crona not usually the one to instigate physical contact when they were around other people.  
    “Hey, Crona. Would you mind walking down with me? I’ve got a couple of questions for you.” Crona’s hand tightened a little around hers before he heaved an almost inaudible sigh and let go, Maka feeling like sighing herself at the loss of contact.  
    “C-coming.” Maka watched her boyfriend as he walked out after Hero, Crona flashing her a small, silver-eyed smile before he closed the door, mouthing ‘I’ll be back soon’.  
                                                      CRASH!!!  
    “Shit!” Soul cursed, pulling his hand out of the hole he had just punched in the wall between the living room and Maka’s bedroom. Maka growled softly and picked up one of the several hardcover dictionaries she had lying strategically around their apartment for times like this, stormed over to Soul who was still nursing his fist, and slammed it over his head as hard as she could.  
   Needless to say, with the muscles she had gained from years of swinging a ten-to-fifteen pound metal Scythe around, she could hit pretty darn hard; Soul instantly collapsing to the ground with a whimper.  
    “Oww… Maka, that was NOT COOL!”  
    “I did warn you.” Maka frowned as she saw how large the hole really was. “You’d better fix that, preferably today.”  
    “Yeah, sure.” Soul sighed as he ran his hand over his head, wincing as he reached the book-shaped indent she had left. “Hey, Black Star. You wanna run over to the hardware shop with me?”  
    “Okay. But this isn’t finished… You can’t weasel out of being beaten into a pulp by the great Black Star just because a wall and Maka got to you first!”  
   “Whatever, dude.”  
   “Good-bye, I guess I’ll see you in a little bit.” Tsubaki waved as she followed the two scuffling boys out, Maka left in the suddenly silent apartment by herself.  
   “Boys.”  
   She began moving their furniture back into place, having gotten about half-way through when Crona came back. He immediately came over to help making the job a lot easier, but Maka noticed that he was even quieter than usual; which was really saying something. When they finished, Maka plopped onto the couch, Crona taking a seat in one of the chairs.  
   That in itself was unusual; even before they had become a couple Crona had liked sitting beside her, and now that they were a couple it had given them the excuse to sit as close as they liked beside each other. “Are you alright, Crona?”  
    “Y-yeah…” Crona refused to meet her gaze, pulling his legs up onto the chair and wrapping his arms around them.  
    Oh, that was bad…  
    “Hey, Maka. When Soul turns into a Death Scythe, is it true that you’re hoping to become one of Lord Death’s Ravens?” Maka raised her eyebrows, impressed that Crona knew about that. If you managed to change your Weapon partner into a Death Scythe before you turned eighteen, there was a large possibility that Lord Death would ask if you wanted to join a somewhat secret group of Maisters known as Death’s Ravens.  
   The Ravens were the best of the best, Maisters that were at their physical and mental peaks. They were sent all over the world to take care of Lord Death’s biggest, roughest, toughest, meanest Kishin Egg and witch targets. It was a limited time job offer; Ravens were only young adults between teen years and twenty-two. Maka had only heard of them because that Spirit had once let it slip that her mother had been a Raven.  
    There were supposedly none left, her mother having been the last Raven that Maka had found, and her mother was a few years over the Raven age limit by now. Very few people had actually ever heard of the group, and even fewer knew that she wanted to join it. In fact, Spirit was about the only person that she could think of that she had told.  
   In any case, she desperately wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps, and one of those footsteps was becoming a Raven. “Yes, it is.”  
   Crona’s grip on his legs tightened, his voice muffled from his face being buried in the fabric of his pants. “And after that, you want to try and find your mother?”  
    “Yes, that’s right.” Maka wondered why her words were obviously causing him pain, his thin frame shaking.  
    “Crona, what’s wrong?” When she received no answer, Maka went and sat on the side of his chair, resting a gloved hand on his hunched back. “Crona, please… Whatever is hurting you, you can tell me.”  
    She gasped slightly as he slowly raised his head, tears glistening in his almost black-ish blue eyes and dripping down his cheeks in small trickles. “I-I can’t leave D-Death City.” His soft voice was stained with misery, and Maka could almost hear his heart breaking in his chest. “It w-was one of Lord D-Death’s conditions when I was r-reentered into the ac-cademy.”  
    “I don’t understand…” Maka was being a little mean and she knew it, but she couldn’t believe that her boyfriend still hadn’t learned that she was able to double-task.  
    “If I c-can’t leave Death City, th-then we can’t really b-be a couple since your g-goals all lead you away from h-here.” More tears rolled down his pale cheeks, but Maka brushed her hand over the wet trails, feeling bad for messing with the fragile teen.  
   “First off Crona, from what I’ve found out, a Raven’s job is about the same as a student’s; go and kill the bad Kishin Egg or witch and then you can come back home. About the only difference is that while students have a wide range of different missions that they can do, Ravens are only given one. So, that would still be the same as now. And two, if I did get the job of Raven and made it to twenty two, Lord Death will probably have lifted that restriction on you. And even if he hasn’t, we could probably talk him into doing it. If we can’t, then I can live without going out to search for her. I’ve been doing it for the last eight or nine years, and I think I’ve handled it pretty well.”  
   She sent her soul out to touch Crona’s, her guilt doubling as she felt how badly his soul was trembling; feelings of terror, uncertainty, and worry worming through his silvery-blue soul. “B-but it would still b-be a lot easier for you to j-just not have t-to worry about me.”  
   Maka was caught between scowling in irritation at his constant self-deprecation, and giggling at how adorably sweet he was; he was half out of it, his entire body having started to relax and loosen up, and yet out of concern for her future Crona was fighting his own body and mind to try and convince her to do the right thing for her; his eyes shifting erratically from contented pale silver to worried stormy gray.  
   Maka had noticed a long time ago that when the two Maisters resonated, – an oddity in itself, seeing as most resonations she had ever seen, and the ones that she went through with Soul, were always between a Maister and a Weapon and were always mind-blowing, the two resonators’ souls steadily growing in energetic power until they almost burst, then shoving that energy back out through the Weapon partner to create their incredibly powerful special attacks- Crona’s reactions were very similar to someone who had gone through a long, stress-filled day and had just sunk into a tub of warm water; his muscles would slowly relax, his eyes would almost close, leaving only a sliver of unfocused silver visible, and his brain would temporarily fix on the present instead of worrying about all of the things about himself that he found ‘unworthy’ of her.  
    Also, Crona’s desire to be in direct contact with her always grew the longer that they resonated. Her personal favorite was a position that he would sometimes get into when she was reading to him while they resonated; she would sit on the couch, and he would lay with his head in her lap, making almost a purring noise as she ran her fingers through his hair.  
    “I don’t think it would be.” Maka disagreed, snapping out of her thoughts as his back muscles bunched under her hand; Crona leaning back as his body slowly won over his fretting mind, his feet going back down to rest on the floor while his hands went limp in his lap.  
   “B-but you would be able to do whatever you w-wanted to, without having to have a chain like m-me h-holding you back, you could have the w-world and y-your m-m-mother.” Crona’s stutter got worse as he spoke the sentence, Maka easily seeing how much offering her an easy way out of their relationship was costing him, especially while they were resonating.  But the fact that he had and had genuinely meant it, just made her resolve to make sure that they could stay together harden further.  
   “It’s true that **_I want it all_** ; the fame of having made a Death Scythe, the experiences of travelling the world as a Raven, the knowledge of why my mother hasn’t come back to Death City, and you. It’s also true that my career might be a little easier to manage if I didn’t have a pressing need to come back to Death City.” She winced as she felt Crona’s soul wilt a little against hers, while under her hand she felt Crona’s entire body begin to shake uncontrollably. “ ** _But I want you more_**. Just because it might be easier doesn’t mean that I would be happier; you are something that I could never live without, no matter what. And anyways, even if we weren’t together, I would still feel that need to come back and see you.” She leaned over and kissed Crona, smiling in satisfaction as she felt his soul swell with sudden happiness, one of his hands going up to gently brush against her jaw. When they pulled apart, she leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “I love you, Crona.”

* * *

  
   Free cursed, realizing that they had forgotten something very important. Without it, everything that they had done so far was going to be lost, including the effort it had taken to find a nice, secluded part of the forest out behind Medusa’s castle, and then going and bringing a mattress out to it –which was actually a lot harder than he had thought it would be- along with the energy that they had put into the venture itself.  
   “Damn it, I’ve gotta go back and get an apple from the kitchen. How the heck did I forget to bring an apple along for us to play out Snow freakin’ White?” Eruka stifled a giggle beside him, but his extra-ordinary hearing –thanks to his wolf ears- caught the small sound, and he spun to mischievously toss the smaller witch up into the air, gently catching her as she fell and planting a kiss on her cheek.  
   “I guess we’ll just pick up where we left off then, hmm?” Free winced, having a feeling that she wasn’t going to like his answer… “You don’t want us to start over, are you? Free, it was hard enough keeping up with you trying to be seven dwarves at the same time once, I don’t think I could do it again.” Eruka looked up at him, some of her white hair showing underneath the black wig he had given her. Free smiled, knowing how lucky he was that Eruka was willing to put up with his… um… particular fetishes.  
   “I love you.”  
   Eruka returned the smile, amused. “I love you too, but I’m still not doing this entire thing over again.” Free huffed out a laugh and gave her another kiss before he set the petite witch down.  
   “Well, what do you suggest we do? Snow White has to bite a poisoned apple, that’s just the way the story goes!” Eruka chuckled and shook her head, then froze. Free recognized the look in her eyes; it meant that she had just thought of something that they were both probably going to enjoy. A lot.  
   “So, you’re the prince, right?”  
   “Well, I was supposed to be the evil queen in disguise, but eventually… yes.” Free let out a soft yelp as Eruka maneuvered him so that he fell back onto the mattress then sat on his lap, pulling him back into an upright position, his hands pressed on the mattress behind him to keep them both up. Eruka licked his jaw, sending flashes of desire running through his veins, goose bumps rising on his arms as she began to slowly kiss her way down his neck, tongue flickering forward now and then making him shiver. She paused, making him hiss in disappointment.  
    “ ** _So, will you wake me up, prince_**?”  
    “I-if we had brought a damn apple for you to-“  
    “ _ **If I bite your poisoned apple**_... right?”  
    “Well, yeah… But we don’t have an-“ Free yelped as Eruka quickly leaned forward and harshly nipped at his Adams apple, automatically gulping at the light pain and gasping as her mouth followed the bulge as it slid up and down his throat. Her tongue ran over the bump once, and then she dramatically slumped against him, feigning unconsciousness. One of his arms flew up to catch her as she started to slide off of his chest, Free twisting until Eruka slipped off of his lap and onto the bed, then began arranging her just so.  
    He grinned as her eyes rolled under their lids, the frog witch obviously wondering why in the heck he was bothering to set her up when all he had to do was kiss her to 'wake' her back up. As he continued to drag the moment out, adjusting the hem of her dress and resettling her arms, Eruka finally lost her patience; she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, and pulled him into a long kiss. When they parted, both a little breathless, Free smirked at her. “You know that you just smooched one of the dwarves, right?”  
    “Shut up!”

* * *

  
   Later, the two lay on the mattress, Eruka enjoying the wave of heat that was emanating from the giant werewolf beside her, noting that his eyes were beginning to droop. “Sleepy?”  
   “A little, I guess…” Free yawned, his tongue dangling out of his mouth as he let out a rumbling whine with his yawn; one of the cuter quirks that came from his wolf blood. “Sorry.”  
   “Don’t worry about it.” Eruka was put in mind of another sleepy boy; a thin, gangly teen who twitched whenever she touched him… one who couldn’t sleep through the night without nightmares except for the times that she sang him a lullaby. “Would you like me to sing you to sleep?”  
   Free gazed up at her sleepily, a groggy smile touching his lips as his eyes closed. “Yeah… that’d be nice.”  
              “Through the heavens with shining stars and moon so bright,  
               Diana hunts with hounds and maidens in the night;  
               Her silver arrows bringing dreams of wondrous lands,  
               Both good and bad together flowing from her hands;  
               The good visions come from lips of a maiden fair,  
               The bad come from sharp fangs of the hounds as they tear;  
               So ask Diana their mistress for dreams so light,  
               **_When you lay your head down to go to sleep this night_**.”  
    As she finished her soft tune, Free let out a loud snore, the werewolf having fallen asleep somewhere between the fourth and fifth verses. Eruka smiled and gently leaned over, planting a light kiss on his forehead before wriggling in closer to her giant boyfriend and going to sleep herself.  
   

* * *

  
    Crona and Maka were sitting on the couch, Maka leaning heavily on Crona’s shoulder. Crona hummed a quiet melody and felt a soft smile grow on his face as the sleeping Maka nuzzled into his neck, the sensation making him shiver. His smile faded as Ragnaroc ripped out of his back, giving his Weapon partner a warning glance as he ignored the light-headedness that accompanied the sudden loss of blood.  
    “Don’t fucking glare at me, I’ve got the right to come out for a breath of fresh air now and then.”  
    Crona’s eyes widened in surprise, this being news to him. “You b-breathe when you’re inside me?”  
    Ragnaroc rolled his x eyes, thumping a fist on Crona’s head. “Yeah, and the air inside you is pretty shitty from all the crap you eat.”  
    “S-sorry…”  
    “Moron! I’m just fucking with you! Geez, how stupid can you be?”  
    Crona stuck his tongue out at his Weapon, instantly regretting it as Ragnaroc somehow managed to pin it between his two ball-shaped hands. “HA! Got your tongue, drip-wad!”  
    “Wagnawok, keep ih down!” Crona hissed, the Weapon rolling his eyes again and releasing his tongue, much to Crona’s relief. “Thanks.”  
    “So, what ‘cha think fatty there is dreaming about?” Ragnaroc asked, his tone mischievous. “From the big smile, it looks like she’s probably dreaming about piles of food.”  
    “Maybe she’s d-dreaming of a world with a much more polite you,” Crona shot back, making his Weapon partner rear back in dramatic shock. “I’d p-probably be smiling about that too.”  
    “Fuck you.” Ragnaroc smirked, jerking one ball fist in a rude-looking gesture before pulling himself back into Crona’s bloodstream, Crona wincing as the large amount of black blood was forced into his veins. It took a few minutes for the flow of blood to return to normal, during which time Crona patiently waited out the twinges of pain as black blood shoved itself through blocked veins. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as it used to be when Ragnaroc was over three times the size he was now, but it did still sting.  
    Crona turned back to Maka, the arm that held her close to him tightening the barest fraction of an inch as she snuggled up against him, a soft noise escaping her lips, making him wonder about Ragnaroc’s question. “What are you d-dreaming about, Maka? I hope it’s nice, wh-whatever it is. Angels shouldn’t get bad d-dreams. Now me,” he shuddered slightly. “ ** _My d-dreams consist of things that’d make you wanna hide_** , and you’re the bravest person I know.”  
    “Crona…” He stiffened as she mumbled his name, the blond Maister still fast asleep.  
    “Yes?”  
    “Where are you?” Maka’s face grew sad, her lips trembling. Crona flinched at the expression, anger flooding him towards his dream self as she continued. “Crona, why did you leave me?”  
    “I-I’m right h-here, I would never l-leave you, I swear.” Crona ran his free hand over her cheek, hoping that her subconscious would cheer up soon. “It’s all r-right, I’m right here.”  
    “Crona, please come back…” Crona was torn on whether or not to wake her up; on one hand, she was obviously not having a good dream, but on the other, he knew that Maka hadn’t been sleeping well lately and wanted to let her get as much rest as she could.  
    “Maka, p-please!” he pleaded, hoping his words would reach her. “I’m right h-here!”  
    “Crona, what did I do?” His heart felt like she was shoving a dagger into it, the thought that she would think that she could ever do something to make him leave her pulling on his guilt. “I’m sorry!”  
    “No, no! I-I wouldn’t… I w-wouldn’t… y-you could n-never… Maka, no matter what, I couldn’t leave you… any m-more than you could l-leave me, remember?” Crona bit his lip hard enough that he tasted black blood in his mouth; the regular copper twang of blood mixed with oil and chemicals, as a tear seeped from Maka’s closed eyes. “I w-wish I was y-you; you always kn-know what to do. What w-would you do?” He licked at the wound in his lip absently, the nasty taste ignored as Crona tried to think. Then his eyes lit up as he realized exactly what she would do, what she had done twice that day already.  
    Crona frowned as he concentrated on his soul, feeling the soft tug as it burst into being around him, though he couldn’t see it. Crona searched for Maka’s warm soul, then suddenly arched his back, gasping, when he found it.  
    This was the first time that he had ever done anything with his soul past resonating with Ragnaroc, which was nothing like resonating with Maka. With Ragnaroc, it was less of a mutually enjoyable bond and more like having energy and thoughts brutally ripped away. But even with Ragnaroc, Crona’s Weapon’s soul always reached out first, slamming into his with the force of a sledgehammer.  
    But this… This feeling of joining with another person, it was electric. Normally, when Maka's soul joined with his, it was a calming, almost intoxicating sensation, but this was jolting. He felt like his soul was getting a jump from a powerful source, something that was almost painful but also managed to be a little pleasurable.  
    He shook his head, trying to focus. Crona could feel Maka’s soul, a large ball of energy that was currently humming in a mix of surprise and fear. He hissed as he tried to send out calming waves, feeling sure that he was doing it wrong. “Crona…” Maka’s voice was full of relief, the other teen’s grip on him tightening unconsciously as she sighed.  
     “I love you,” Crona murmured into her hair, kissing the top of her head.  
     “I love you too…”  
 

* * *

  
     Medusa growled in frustration, the little girl in her mind urging her to stamp her foot in petulance, but she ignored the irritating child and focused on the problem at hand.  
     She was back in Stein’s mind, curious to see what it looked like now that she had experimented on him. Medusa was only slightly disappointed to find that it was almost exactly the same as before, only with small cracks in the odd reality of the doctor’s mind. Unfortunately, one of those cracks was standing in between her and Stein’s representation; a large black stripe of nothingness that sent shivers down Medusa’s spine.  
     She carefully walked around the hole, leaving a wide berth between her and the nothingness before continuing on. This had been the twenty-seventh hole so far; most long, some wide, and all extremely dangerous. Medusa walked on for what seemed like an eternity, but in Stein’s warped mind it could very possibly been mere seconds, finally coming across a twenty-foot tall tower. At the top of the tower, a man in a bright white lab coat swung his legs over the side of the roof, a wide smile cracked across his face and a glowing cigarette in his hand.  
     “Hello, Lovey!” Stein burst into insane laughter, the sound madly amused.  
     “Where is the entrance?”  
     “There isn’t one!” Medusa frowned, unhappy with the way this was turning out.  
     “Well, how did you get up there then?”  
     “The place was built up underneath me, obviously!” She growled, losing patience with the mad scientist.  
     “ ** _Stein, let me in your tower_** , now!”

* * *

  
     Stein looked down from his lofty perch, enjoying the look of fury on the little child Medusa’s face.  
     “No, I don’t think so.”  
     “I order you to let me in this instant, you damn fool!”  
     “You’re a witch, right? Well, prove it! **_Show me your magic powers_**.” Stein cackled at the little girl far below him, waving mockingly over the edge of the roof. He loved her, sure. But he had no desire to do as she said when she talked to him like that.  
     Stein pursed his lips, lost in a sudden line of thought. “I wonder if her current appearance is bringing up memories of teaching at the academy… That would explain why her ordering me around is so irritating…”  
     “STEIN!”

* * *

  
     Crona was beginning to doze off, his head drooping to rest against Maka’s, when the door to the apartment opened and Soul, Black Star and Tsubaki came in. “Shh…” Crona tried to warn them, but Black Star jumped into the center of the room.  
    “I, THE GREAT AND AWESOME BLACK STAR, HAVE RETURNED!!! YOU MAY ALL BEGIN THANKING ME AND YOUR OTHER LUCKY STARS NOW!”  
     Crona shot the blue-haired boy a dirty look as Maka started awake, yawning and stretching the kinks out of her spine. “Mmnn. Oh, I’m sorry, Crona. How long have I been asleep?”  
     “N-not that long, but you n-needed the rest.”  
     “We got the supplies to fix the wall.” Soul held up a plastic bag, his normal jagged grin a little mischievous as he added, “Hope we didn’t interrupt anything here.”  
     “Just my nap, apparently.”  
     “Wh-what’s wrong with y-your wall?” Crona asked, confused. “D-do you have termites, or are th-the support beams f-failing?”  
     “That’s right, you were out talking with Hero when Soul decided to use the wall as a punching bag.” Crona let his gaze drop to the floor, one hand reaching over to grab his arm as he remembered their conversation. Hero had told him that he had overheard Maka telling her dad what she wanted to do when she got out of the academy a few years back, and it didn’t sound good for Crona and Maka’s relationship.  
     Hero had gone on to advise Crona to let Maka be with someone better for her than Crona, someone a little more like him. Right about then was when Crona had pulled Ragnaroc on the other Maister, Hero running off after yelling that he was being selfish.  
     Crona knew that the blond boy was right, he was being selfish by not arguing further for Maka to forget him and he just wasn’t strong enough to do the right thing. But he knew that as long as Maka was willing to endure him as her boyfriend, he would do everything in his power to keep her safe and happy. Even if she wasn’t his girlfriend he would still be her silent guardian, the dark shadow that kept her brilliant light from fading.  
     “-rona! Dude, you listening?”  
     “S-sorry, what did you say?” Soul gave him a small pointy smirk before repeating himself.  
     “I asked if you’d mind helping.” Crona blinked and looked around to discover that Black Star, Tsubaki and Maka had disappeared.  
     “S-sure. Where’d everyone g-go?” Soul handed him a small canvas patch, gesturing for him to hold it over the hole.  
     “Well, Maka and Tsubaki went to go pick out a movie for after we’ve finished patching the wall up, and Black Star went with them to make sure they didn’t pick out anything too mushy.” Crona watched as Soul pulled a small tub of putty out of the plastic bag, along with a putty knife. “This shouldn’t be permanent, it’s just something to tide us over ‘till I can find a small piece of sheetrock and take out a couple of hours to really fix it up again.”  
     “How d-do you know how to do this?” Soul grinned, winking at Crona as he slathered a dollop of putty over the patch, smoothing it out as best he could.  
     “I watched Maka the last time this happened.”  
     “O-oh.”  
     “Come on, let’s go do the other side.” As they fixed the other half of the hole, Soul told Crona what had happened while they were getting the supplies. “Yeah, so I was looking through the putties when Black Star suddenly jumps off the top of one of the shelves, smashes into me, knocks us both into a display, and all the time he’s yelling about how he’s the greatest assassin ever. Right about then was when the store manager walks up and tells us to take it outside, or else he’s gonna call security. So when we get out, I go Scythe on Black Star, which wasn’t cool of me, but come on! Then Tsubaki walks out, and he gets her to manifest, and we go at it. I managed to get in a few good hits, but a Weapon and Maister team against a Weapon isn’t gonna end well for the lone Weapon. Man, if Maka had been there though, we definitely would have kicked Black Star’s butt into next week!”  
     Crona smiled politely, not exactly sure if he was following Soul’s story or not. “Hey, that reminds me. I’ve wanted to have a rematch; you and Ragnaroc against me and Maka. The first time we fought, you definitely won,” Crona flinched as he remembered the sensation of Ragnaroc slashing through Soul’s chest, followed by Maka’s desperate scream. “And the second time, I think we won, so right now our battles are at a tie. I’d kinda like to see what sparring you would be like.”  
     Soul put the lid back on the container of putty, then went over and rinsed the knife off into a cup. He continued on to dump the cup of putty water out the window, then turned to face Crona. “So, what do ya think?”  
     Crona shook his head, the motion starting out slow but working its way up in speed until his head was whipping back and forth. “N-n-no, th-that sounds l-like a b-bad idea…”  
      “Dude, Crona, calm down. What’s wrong?”  
      ‘I get asked that a lot…’ Crona thought absently as he sank down against the wall, trying to keep from hyperventilating. “I c-can’t control m-myself when I f-fight. I d-don’t want to h-hurt you or M-Maka, but…”  
      “Hey, it’s all right. Maka and I can handle ourselves in a fight, after all, we managed to survive two attacks of yours that were meant to kill, didn’t we? **_We’re not afraid to face a little bit of danger, trust me_**. And anyway, if you really don’t want to fight, nobody’s gonna make you.” Soul hesitated, then lightly punched Crona’s shoulder. “Dude. You don’t have to treat us like china; we aren’t delicate, and it’s not cool that you act like we are.”  
     “B-but I’ve hurt all of y-you, except for Black Star and Ts-Tsubaki, and that’s because I had n-never met them… b-b-before.” Crona looked up at the Scythe, a question he’d had since that second fight escaping his lips before he could stop it. “H-how can you st-tand having m-me around, after I sl-l-lashed you?”  
     Soul sighed, leaning over and sitting down next to Crona. “I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical for the first couple of weeks after you were enrolled in the Academy and then when I finally got that you and Maka had a thing for each other, I was pretty jealous for a while.”  
     Crona frowned, confused. “Wh-why would you be j-jealous?”  
     Soul laughed as he leaned back against the wall. “Wow. Um, you’ve noticed that Black Star and Tsubaki are a couple, right?”  
     “Y-yeah…” It wasn't very obvious, but Crona had noticed.  
     “And that Kid and Liz are going out…”  
     “Yeah…”  
     That pairing was glaringly obvious. Especially since Patty had gotten into the habit of skipping around her Maister and older sister, singing at the top of her lungs, ‘Kid and Liz, sittin’ in a tree, K I S S I N G!’  
     “Sid and Nygus…”  
     “Y-yeah,”  
     “Professor Stein and Miss Marie…”  
     “D-definitely.”  
     “And then there was Spirit and Maka’s mom… you see what I’m getting at?”  
     Crona shook his head, not having been able to make any connections. He winced a little as Ragnaroc gushed out of his back, immediately proceeding to pummel Crona’s head and insult him.  
     “MORON! How fucking stupid can you be, Crona? If you absolutely have to have the blatantly obvious spelled out for you, then here. MAISTER AND WEAPON PAIRS USUALLY END UP AS COUPLES! So, Soul thought that he and Maka were gonna hook up and fuck each other. Dumb-ass.”  
     Soul and Crona both turned a bright shade of red at the Sword’s words, Crona’s hand shooting up of its own accord to crack the Weapon under his chin. Ragnaroc retreated back into his bloodstream, muttering how he ought to be more grateful when people helped him.  
     “Um… anyway… After the fight with Medusa, when I saw just how much you two loved each other, I got over myself and stopped holding a grudge for things that happened in the past. That’s about it.”  
     “Th-thanks.”  
     “Hey, that’s what friends do.”

* * *

  
    Eruka was woken up by Free’s soft sigh, starting a little as she saw that the werewolf was snuggled up next to her, staring at with soft brown eyes. “Hey.”  
    “Hey yourself. I’m surprised that Medusa hasn’t called us back yet.” Eruka sat up and stretched, hearing her back crack as the bones popped back into position. “What time is it, do you know?”  
    “Nope.”  
    “Oh, well.” Eruka smiled as Free chuckled, sitting up next to her.  
    “If you could have whatever you wanted right now, what would it be?” Eruka started at the seriousness in his normally jovially mischievous tone.  
    “Well…” She thought it over, stuck between being the most powerful witch in the land and being a few inches taller. Suddenly, the snakes inside of her began wriggling, tugging her back in the direction of the nearby castle, and she knew exactly what she wanted most. “ ** _I want my life_**.”  
    Free cocked his head to one side, a puzzled expression in his eyes.“What do you mean?”  
 

* * *

  
    Stein had eventually relented, letting the childlike witch enter the tower. After a few hours of talking over various experiments and a few games of chess, Stein looked up at Medusa, letting his glasses catch his glasses to hide his eyes as he asked a question that he had wondered for a while. “So, Medusa. Why exactly do you want to change your boy into a second Kishin so badly?”  
    “That is an exceedingly simple question to answer, as I believe I already explained this to you underneath the academy. _**The power**_. With the power I would gain from controlling a second god of madness, I could easily take control of the various sects of witches. From there, I could overthrow Lord Death and take his place, using the student Maisters and Weapons in my experiments. Once the witches, the Maisters and the Weapons were all under my command, then I could create my own little New Sparta or Rome; a land of wealth and prosperity that no one would dare attack for fear of drawing my anger.”  
    Medusa smiled at Stein, moving her bishop. “Check. And another, less ambitious reason would be just to have turned my worthless idiot of a son actually do something worthwhile for me. At least if he became a god, then all that time and trouble of producing and raising a child would have had some use. So far, however, he’s proving to be nothing but a disappointment and a traitor.”  
   Stein grinned widely as he slid his queen across the board. “Checkmate. With such an inspiring mother, it’s a wonder that he turned out as well as he did.”

* * *

  
   Maka opened the door of the apartment, giving Black Star a warning glare as he started forward, sending the blue-haired teen skipping back a step.  
   He had ended up knocking over almost all of the stands in the movie rental store when he tried to flip from the top of one to another, resulting in the three teens getting firmly kicked out of the store for the conceivable future.  
   The first thing that she noticed on entering was the fact that Soul had managed to get the hole in the wall patched up nicely in the half hour or so that it had taken to go to town and back. The next thing she saw was that Soul and Crona were sitting on the floor, Crona looking like he was getting over one of his periodic panic attacks. “Hey guys. Nice job, Soul.”  
    “Thanks. I can’t take all the credit, though. Crona helped out a lot.” Maka gave Soul a ‘thank you’ smile as Crona stammered that all he had done was hold the cloth. “So, what movie’d you guys get? Hope it’s cool, and not one those ‘chick flicks’.”  
    Maka scowled at Black Star, the other Maister sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. “The store manager was jealous of my superior awesomeness, so, he kinda… banned us.”  
    “Aww, dude! Not cool!”  
    “Why don’t we just play a game instead?” Tsubaki suggested, walking over to the shelf where they were stored. “How about… What If?”  
    “Sure.”  
    “I’ll beat you all, because I am the greatest gameplayer in the world!”  
    “That sounds fun.”  
    “O-okay.”  
    They set up the game on the table, Crona being picked to read the first question. “Wh-what if… you were an animal. Wh-what animal would the p-person on your l-left be?”  
     “Soul’d be a rat!” Black Star yelled, pointing at his friend. Soul gave him a wounded look.  
     “Why the heck?”  
     “You know, one of those albino things! They have white hair, red eyes and sharp teeth too!”  
    “Hey! That’s not how you’re supposed to-“  
    Maka cut in, looking meaningfully at the book she had picked up. They both went pale, Soul sitting back down. “Soul, it’s your turn.”  
    “Oh, right. Tsubaki… I think you’d be a pretty cool swan.” Tsubaki smiled, looking embarrassed.  
    “Thank you, Soul. Maka, I think you would be a lioness.”  
    “Definitely.” Soul agreed, even Black Star and Crona nodding at that.  
    Now it was Maka’s turn to feel embarrassed, though she was secretly pleased with their choice. “Crona, you would be a Labrador.”  
    Ragnaroc popped out, sticking his long tongue out at Maka. “Hey! What about me?”  
    “Chihuahua.”  
    “The fuck?! I’m no wimpy shrimp dog, but you’re a pig, not a damn lioness!”  
    “Whatever. Crona, it’s your turn.” Crona looked nervous as he looked at Black Star, the blue haired Maister currently doing a set of pushups on the floor.  
    “Y-you’d be an Australian Sh-shepherd, I th-think.”  
    “More like a fucking cricket; always jumping around, unable to shut the hell up, and hard to keep in one place.” Ragnaroc muttered, leaning on Crona’s head.  
    “Black Star, it’s your turn to read the next card.” Tsubaki gently reminded the boy, who bounced to his feet and grabbed a card.  
    “Wh…what... what if… what if you were…” Black Star frowned at the card, his brow wrinkling as he continued. “What if you were a fairy- a fairy tale cracker. What if you were a fairy tale cracker. What… what would… what would you want… what would you want most… what would you want most in your story? What if you were a fairy tale cracker. What would you want most in your story?” Black Star grinned, tossing the card back on the table.  
     Maka sighed, scowling a little at the table. What was it today with fairy tales? It almost seemed like they were out to get her! “I think you mean ‘character’, not cracker.” Maka advised gently, the other Maister flushing slightly.  
     “Yeah.”  
     Soul grinned, his sharp teeth showing as he answered. “I’d want a wicked sweet pet dragon to toast any villains that got in my way!” He and Black Star shared a high-five before falling back in their seats.  
     “I think I would like a cloak of invisibility.” Tsubaki’s voice was tinged with wry humor, Maka getting the small joke. The older girl had always felt like she was invisible until she had joined up with Black Star as his Weapon companion. Now she was NEVER invisible, but she was a lot more confident in her own self worth than she had been.  
    “I think that, if I was a fairy tale character, I’d want **_the happy ending_**.” Maka was actually a little surprised that no one else had picked that already, seeing as how that was what every character actually wanted in stories. Come to think of it, that was what everyone wanted in real life too. All of the others nodded, impressed with her choice.  
   “Cool.” Soul smiled, shooting her a thumbs-up. Crona frowned, lost in thought.  
   Ragnaroc rolled his eyes and grinned nastily. “I’d want a fucking big-ass sword to go around hacking people up with! Oh, wait. I am a fucking big-ass sword! Hell yeah!”  
   Maka gave the Weapon a sweet smile. “Oh, is that why you don’t some out past your waist? Nobody’s going to judge you on how big your butt is, Ragnaroc.”  
   Black Star and Soul roared with laughter, Tsubaki hid her smile, and Crona absent-mindedly winced as Ragnaroc took his humiliation out on his head before dissolving back into Crona’s back with a huff. “I th-think I’d like to b-be the h-hero who helps th-the warrior p-princess win the battle.”  
   Maka smiled at that, though she noticed that Crona was being very careful not to look at her as he spoke. She reached out with her soul, both Meisters smiling as their souls intertwined.  
    “I’d obviously be the supreme ruler of the world, that’s what an amazing star like me deserves.” Maka shook her head at Black Star’s conceited words, joining the others as they chuckled at his huge ego.

* * *

  
    Eruka groaned as she got up, the snakes in her body growing more and more active. “ ** _You want the same as me_**. Remember when Medusa had me help you escape from the witch prison?”  
    “Yeah. Pretty hard to forget, don’t ya think?”  
    “Well, what did you want more than anything before I got there?”  
    “My… freedom.”  
    “Exactly. Anyway, Lady Medusa is calling, **_so let’s stop role playing_** and get back to work.”

* * *

  
    Medusa glanced up at Stein, trying to figure out if she had let the black blood’s madness heal the newly reorganized pieces of his brain long enough or if she should give him another half an hour. “Medusa, love, would you stop staring at me? I understand the appeal of watching an experiment, but it is highly irritating.” Stein’s monotone voice was tinged with wry amusement as the doctor readjusted his glasses.  
   _‘Oh well, I may as well see if this works._ ’ Medusa stood up, catching Stein’s attention.  
   “Stein, I would like for you to join me as I attempt to raise the Kishin. **_I’m going to show you some of what we could do together,_ ** and I truly hope that you will agree to help me. Snake snake, cobra co-bera!” Using her magic she painted a picture in the air, showing the utter insanity that would probably rip apart the land if they joined forces, plus a few other possible scenarios. When she had finished, Medusa looked at Stein, the doctor’s expression not having changed one iota during the entire affair. “Well?” she demanded, trying not to let the worry that he might refuse her offer again show on her face or in her voice.  
   “This plan of yours sounds insane.” Stein chuckled, his flat tone eager as he continued. “Sure. Sounds like fun!” Stein quickly crossed the room, picking Medusa’s short figure up to press their lips together.

* * *

  
   “ ** _I want to love you through this form_** , Medusa.” He did. He really, really did; one of the unfortunate effects of having a few of the things he despised and the things he desired switched around in his brain.  
   However, the things that disgusted him remained firmly whole; so even kissing the child that Medusa was currently occupying was sickening him. Pedophilia was one of the few moral lines that he had never crossed, but he was getting the sinking feeling that if she demanded it of him, he wouldn’t have much of a choice in the matter.  
    Medusa smirked as he set her down, and he had a sneaking suspicion that she knew exactly what was bothering him. That was confirmed a minute later when she asked him innocently, “What’s wrong? You wouldn’t happen to be squeamish about molesting a child, would you?”  
    He glared at her, letting her know exactly what he thought of her tasteless teasing. Medusa sighed and shook her head. “No sense of humor whatsoever, hmm? Snake, snake, cobra cobera!” Her body began to age, quickly going through the teen and young adult years until Medusa stood before him in her originally aged form. “Since we’re in your mind, the me that you’re seeing isn’t actually real. So, I accessed your memories of me and changed my age. Better?”  
    “Much.”  
    Stein smirked, pulling the woman into a firm kiss. “You know that this is probably going to end in catastrophe for the rest of the world, don’t you?”  
    He smiled, winking. “Well, at least **_we’ll be a sweet disaster_**.”

* * *

  
    After the game had finished, Black Star and Tsubaki had gone home and Soul had gone to his room, leaving Crona and Maka alone snuggling in the living room. Crona was wondering about something that he had noticed over the last little while.  
    “Hey, M-Maka?”  
    “Mm-hm?”  
    “Why d-don’t you like fairy tales?” Maka stiffened slightly, Crona feeling her muscles tightening beneath his arm.  
    “Why do you say that?”  
    “It j-just seems like whenever someone b-brings up the topic, you get unhappy.” Maka was silent for a while, Crona wondering if he should have kept his question to himself. Finally she sighed and pushed herself off of the couch, leaving Crona with a cold arm and a worried mind.  
     “It’s not fairy-tales themselves that I don’t like, it’s the happy endings that frustrate me.”  
     “Wh-why?”  
     “Because! They lead little children to believe that everything, no matter what problem arises, will come out perfectly in the end. Not to mention the fact that all girls can be moronic idiots if there’s a prince around to hand out true love’s kiss. There’s an evil sorceress that curses an infant to die at age sixteen. No problem, we’ll just take this prince that’s never met her before and have him kiss her to wake her up. There’s a princess who’s tricked into biting a poisoned apple by a jealous step-mother and falls asleep. Hey, Prince Charming just happens to be riding by the hill, and for some perverted reason he wants to kiss a dead girl. Rapunzel’s rescued by her prince from the tower, Red’s rescued by the hunter, Maid Marian is rescued by Robin Hood, Alice is rescued by the White Knight, and Dorothy is rescued by the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow.” Maka growled under her breath, Crona gulping at this severely ticked off version of his normally calm girlfriend. “ ** _I don’t believe in fairytales_** and how they raise people’s expectations of their lives.”  
     Crona stared at his shoes, trying to keep calm while Maka continued her lecture. “When a three-year-old has heard all of her life that when a man and a woman get married they live happily ever after, finding out that the prince went out and cheated on the princess and that they’re now going to get a divorce is devastating.”  
     Crona froze, beginning to panic as tears formed in Maka’s emerald eyes. “Fairy tales made me think that a perfect ending was inevitable, when the opposite is far more likely. There are no fairy godmothers, no perfect princes, and no genies in lamps. There’s just the things in life that you work hard to gain, only to have them ripped from you by dumb bad luck and mistakes.”  
     His hand gripped his arm tight enough to bruise, his mind torn in a struggle between wanting to go and comfort Maka and wanting to go hide in a corner. ‘ _If she doesn’t believe that there’s any possibility for happy endings to exist, then does that mean that she isn’t happy with me? Of course she isn’t, I should have known better than to expect an angel like her to actually love a monster like me. I can’t believe that it took me this long to figure it out, I really must be as stupid and naive as Ragnaroc tells me I am. I really thought that I could be forgiven for my sins; how idiotic, right? I don’t know how to deal with this…’_

* * *

  
   Medusa moaned softly into Stein’s mouth, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. The professor was far more… involved, now that she was back to her normal age. She had to admit that she appreciated her height quite a bit more now than she had, not having to stand on tip-toe to see on the top of most surfaces feeling like a big achievement. Stein eyed her then snapped his fingers, a bed appearing from thin air. He gestured for her to get on it with an elegant bow, gray eyes glinting over his glasses.  
   “Well, aren’t you just a regular Prince Charming.” Medusa purred, lying back on the soft mattress. Stein had swept forward to kiss her again, but at her words he paused, barely a centimeter from her lips.  
    “I don’t believe I appreciate the comparison.” Medusa rolled her eyes, unconcerned with the white-clad man’s comment. “In fact, I’m certain that I dislike it.”  
   “Why?” Medusa asked, sighing as she realized that Stein was probably going to explain his problem anyway, and the quickest way to get back to more… prurient activities, was to have him roll it out now.  
    “Because. The notion of fairy tales is an out-dated way of frightening children, nothing more and nothing less. Most were made up by Lord Death to keep children from being killed by witches, and others were just to keep the kids on the straight and narrow. Don’t trespass on other people’s property; they might want to eat you for it. Don’t accept food from strangers; it might be poisoned. Don’t walk into the unknown area, keep to the paths; something might attack you. Don’t steal; bad things could happen. Don’t promise things that you don’t have; the people who you promised them to will probably come back to claim their property.” Stein sat up, his glasses flashing with reflected light as he scowled. “All were very effective before the invention of the internet and telephones, they saved countless lives. However, now that children are shown that witches don’t build gingerbread houses, don’t take little girls as payment for vegetables, don’t curse newborns with sleeping curses, so on and so forth, the tales are no more than laughing fodder for them. And if they’re laughing at how amusingly dull their parents and grandparents were to believe these stories, then they aren’t taking heed of the lessons contained therein. If they don’t listen to the lessons that are supposed to give them a basic moral compass that tells them that bad actions are punished while good actions are rewarded, then they’re more likely to steal, to trespass, to stray from the good and explore what evil can do for them, ect.”  
    Medusa raised an eyebrow. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you? I still don’t see why you didn’t appreciate my Prince Charming remark, though.”  
    Stein rubbed his eyes wearily, letting out a heavy sigh. “About the only things that the children still hang onto in fairy tales are the princes and princesses, and later on in life they still hold onto what they think are the ideal life mates. For young women, they want the stereotypical Prince Charming; handsome, strong, suave and always ready to rescue a damsel in distress. In stories, the prince is considered the ultimate good; so full of heroic nobility that a mere kiss from him will break any curse. For the young men, on the other hand, they desire nothing more than the stereotypical Princess; beautiful, preferably rich, and with very few working brain cells. They are what stories revolve around, the center of the wheel of tales. Without the foolish princess to rescue, the prince can’t truly show off how noble he is without having to actually work hard. But there are very few people in the world that fit these criteria, if any at all. Therefore most people will spend their lives looking for their ‘one true love’, their ‘Prince Charming’ or ‘Fair Maiden’, and will have wasted countless hours searching for something that doesn’t exist.”  
    Medusa held back an amused chuckle as Stein flopped back onto the bed with another deep sigh, caught between interest in what he was saying and the desire to have him finish his lecture so that they could get back to their prior, highly enjoyable activities. “In any case, **_I don’t believe in fairy tales_** ’ use in the modern world. I think that newer and far more frightening tales should be woven to frighten children into good behavior.”  
   “You do realize that the original tales were far more gruesome than the versions that they tell children now, don’t you? For instance, I believe that the wolf raped Red, Rapunzel’s prince had his eyes gouged out, one of Cinderella’s stepsisters had a couple of toes lopped off while the other hacked off her heel, both eventually having their eyes pecked out as well, Rumpelstiltskin turned out to have a curse on him that could only be transferred by the mother speaking Rumpelstiltskin’s name of her own accord, so she ended up accidentally cursing her child, and, I could be wrong, didn’t Hansel get killed before the two children made it back to their cottage? Anyhow, those are just a few of the less well known versions, and it seems to me that they might still work just as well on little children, but their parents feel that coddling their offspring and hiding the less fluffy versions of these tales from their young charges will make them grow up as better people.”  
    “I hadn’t thought of that point,” Stein admitted, rolling over until he lay on top of Medusa, his body pressed firmly against hers. “That’s an interesting thing to muse over… later.”  
    “Definitely-“ Stein cut her off with a hard kiss, Medusa smiling at the thought that the doctor may very well be her Prince Charming whether he liked it or not.  
 

* * *

  
    “Eruka, go give this to Crona and tell him to give it to that annoyingly pesky Hammer, Marie Mjolner.” Lady Medusa tossed a pen to Eruka, not bothering to see if she had caught it or not. Eruka knew that Lady Medusa didn’t have a problem with torturing and killing her if she messed up, not exactly something that inspired feelings of job security.  
    The older witch’s cold voice had the same velvet tones as her son, though Crona’s voice was almost always shaky and gentle while Lady Medusa’s was strong and usually held a touch of scorn and amusement at the person she was speaking to. At the moment, she was speaking to Eruka, though the other witch’s gaze was fixed on her magic orb. “All he has to do is twist the cap off and slip the snake into something that Mjolner will eat or drink.” Eruka gulped as Lady Medusa finally turned around to fix her with her slit eyes, her icy gold gaze no less intimidating in her smaller form. A small smile twitched at the corner of the snake witch’s mouth as she continued. “Oh, tell Crona that he’s doing well, and that I’m very proud of him.”  
     She let out a cold chuckle, the sound sending shivers running up Eruka’s spine. “Knowing my idiot of a son, he’ll eat it right up.” Eruka bobbed a quick curtsey.  
     “Y-yes, Lady Medusa.”  
     “If you would like, you may take Free along with you.”  
     “Thank you.” Lady Medusa turned back to her globe, signaling that their conversation was at an end. Eruka trotted out as quickly as she could, then she and Free headed out on the somewhat long journey from Lady Medusa’s castle to Death City.  
     Eruka finally got bored of the silent trudging, deciding to break the silence with a question. “So, why are you so obsessed with fairy tales?” Free ran a hand through his hair, making clumps of the black strands stand on end as he grinned.  
     “ ** _I don’t believe in fairy tales_** … I think that they’re actually somewhat dramatized accounts of history.” Eruka blinked, not having expected that response. She had thought that it was just another one of his child-like attributes, and had thought that she would receive an equally child-like explanation.  
     “What?”  
     “Well, I started looking up actual accounts in history that almost mirror the so-called ‘fairy-tales’ when my parents told me about one of my long-dead ancestors; the Red Moon Wolf. Apparently, he stayed perfectly human unless he saw the color red; then he would shift into a huge wolf and go berserk, killing anyone who crossed his path. Remind you of any stories?”  
     “Little Red Riding Hood?”  
     “Exactly! And then when I began to hunt the witch who used to own my eye, I started investigating all of those witch related tales. Turns out, there was a witch in Germany who would go into far-away villages and kidnap children by giving them drugged gingerbread before taking them back to her castle to cut up for her experiments. Another witch took a man’s child as payment for a good crop for one year, and accidentally cast a spell on her that made the girl’s hair grow at an unmanageable rate. Yet another witch cast a curse on a town right before their Maister and Weapon pair tried to kill her; when the blow struck, it sent everyone to sleep for sixteen years. During that time, the curse stole their youth and strength and gave it to the mortally wounded witch. When they awoke, all of the townspeople were old and weak, while the witch had regained her youth and vitality, her spell even having managed to heal her wound.  
    Oh, oh! My personal favorite was the witch Niveous; when her mother died, her father went and married a Maister. When the Maister found out that her new husband and step-daughter were witches, she and her Weapon, a man named Reflect, killed Niveous’s father and tried to kill her. However, Niveous managed to escape and hide out with a giant called Septem for a while. Eventually, Niveous managed to kill her Maister step-mother by casting a sleeping spell on an apple that the Maister was about to eat, but Reflect hunted her down and tore out her soul. Septem then returned the favor by killing the Weapon, so everyone ended up dying except for him.”  
      “That’s your favorite?” Eruka asked, a little horrified by the gruesome tale.  
      “Well, it’s the most interesting, to me.” Free shrugged and scratched his neck. “Anyway, I just like going through all of these old stories in my head while we act out the slightly more simple versions that overprotective parents and Lord Death carved out of the originals.” Eruka walked along beside him in silence for a few minutes, thinking over the tid-bits that her boyfriend had just given her to mull over.  
     “I think…” She finally broke the silence, making Free jump. “I think that next time we do that role playing thing, I’d like for you to tell me the actual story behind the child’s tale.” Free grinned widely, picking her up in a huge bear hug and spinning around in a small circle before letting her go.  
      “Count on it!”

* * *

  
      Maka couldn’t believe that she’d just told Crona that. She had never even told anyone that she disliked fairy tales, let alone why. Not Spirit, not Professor Stein, not even Soul, and they resonated souls on a somewhat regular basis, a highly intimate and revealing process.  
    She sniffled quietly, clenching her gloved fists tightly as she tried to calm down. She hated crying in front of other people, but what made it even worse was that she was crying in front of Crona. Maka knew that most boys thought of themselves as the ‘strong’ halves of relationships, and most of the time they might even be right, but the young swordsman had such a fragile soul that she instinctively felt protective of him and tried to keep a strong face out for him. His past was so warped and twisted that it made her ill when she thought about it; leaving him a fearsome warrior to face in battle, but a weak and terrified boy the rest of the time.  
    Maka risked a glance over in his direction, and her stomach twisted in guilt. Crona had curled up as much as he could while still holding his arm, the grip he had looking painfully tight. His eyes were screwed shut, and his entire body was shaking; in fear, worry or anger, Maka couldn’t tell.  
    “Shit.” Maka cursed as quietly as she could, but her mind was yelling at her for upsetting Crona so badly that he had a panic attack twice so far today. His panic attacks had been getting better; he had gotten so that he could get through a week with only one attack. But she had singlehandedly ruined his progress because she had just had to blurt out her stupid little sob story. _‘STUPID STUPID STUPID! Maka Albarn, you’re a MORON!'_  
    “Crona, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you that, it’s my personal cross to bear, not yours.” Her apology only seemed to make Crona’s shaking worsen, the teen shaking so hard his teeth were beginning to chatter softly.  
    “So it’s t-t-true then, huh.” Crona’s velvet voice was so soft and full of abject misery that it took her a minute to register what he had said.  
    “What’s true?”  
    “Y-you d-don’t like being around m-me. You’ve j-just been d-dealing with me out of the k-kindness of your heart, b-b-because you d-don’t think th-that you could find anyone who’ll m-make you t-truly happy.” Crona slowly got to his feet, his voice going numb as he shuffled past her. “I guess I sh-should leave. Goodbye, M-M-M-Maka.” The young swordsman had to fight to spit out the last word, his stutter coming out in full fury.  
    Maka grabbed his shoulder as he started to plod towards the door, confusion assaulting her mind. “Crona, what are you talking about?”  
    He didn’t look at her, instead staring at his shoes as he whispered, “If y-you don’t b-believe that people can h-have happy endings, th-then that means y-you don’t believe in l-love. If you d-don’t believe in l-l-love, then there isn’t r-really any reason for you t-t-to have tolerated my f-freakishness except that you’re k-kind enough to pity a m-monster like me. I could n-never ask you to put up w-with me, so I’ll j-just g-g-get out of your l-life.” Crona moved toward the door then hesitated, his hand on the handle. Maka stood frozen, her mouth open in utter shock at what the young swordsman was saying. “I hope th-that you do find someone th-that you love, Maka, even th-though it would p-prove you were wrong. It’s j-just one more th-thing on an endless l-list of joys that you g-gave me, but it’s something th-that I would n-never trade for anyth-thing. Thank you so m-much for giving m-me that ray of light in my p-p-pit of despair, I know I n-never deserved it.” The teen gave her a small, sad smile before he opened the door.  
    As he started to walk out, Maka came to her wits and strode over, pulling Crona into a firm, tight hug. The boy yelped, weakly trying to back off without actually pushing her off of him. “M-Maka, please! I c-can’t… I’m not st-trong enough… Please…” Tears began trickling down his cheeks, a broken look in his black-blue eyes as his body slowly sagged in defeat, slumping against hers. “Please, I’m trying t-to leave… If y-you don’t let m-me go… I’m n-not strong enough t-to deal w-with leaving you tw-wice…”  
    Maka only tightened her hold on her boyfriend, feeling tears roll down her cheeks as well. _‘How insensitively moronic can you possibly be, Maka? What else is he going to think when you’re talking about fairy tales like that… especially after he had just said earlier today how our relationship had been compared to a fairytale. You are an idiotic jerk. How could you put Crona through something like that?’_ Her tears only fell harder as she thought over how amazingly sweet he was; hoping that she found someone to love, even if it wasn’t him. Trying to leave to let her off of the hook of ‘dealing’ with him and even protesting as she held him back, but not physically making her do anything.  
    “M-Maka!” Crona gasped, his hand automatically going up to wipe away her tears but stopping himself before his fingertips brushed her cheek, conflict clear in his eyes. “Wh-what… Please don’t c-cry… Wh-what’s wrong?”  
    “Thanks for your good hopes for my love life, but I already have someone that I’m in love with.” Maka almost felt like rolling her eyes in disbelief as Crona visibly wilted further, his hand dropping to his side.  
    “Oh…”  
    “Crona, it’s you.”  
    A spark momentarily flickered in his eyes, then they dulled once more. “M-Maka, you really d-don’t have to do th-this.”  
    “So… what? You’re gonna take the only guy I’ve loved as a boyfriend and keep him away from me as much as you can? That seems cruel.” She would have smiled at the frown of confusion that appeared on the gentle swordsman’s face, but the mood was too tense for the small bit of levity. “Crona, I’m not just saying that I love you, I mean it with all of my heart.”  
     “B-but I thought you said…”  
     “While I don’t believe in the accuracy of fairytales, **_I believe in you and me_** completely.” Maka watched, pleased, as Crona heard her words. He straightened slightly, his eyes turning a brilliant pale shade of silver as a small, shaky smile spread across his face.  
     “R-really?”  
     “Yup. You’re stuck with me, sorry.” Her words had the intended effect; Crona’s eyes bulged and he immediately began to frantically wave his hands and shake his head, completely forgetting what they had been talking about.  
     “Wh-what? Maka, b-being with you isn’t s-something you should ap-pologize to me for, if anything I sh-should apologize to you f-for being such a-“ This time Maka did roll her eyes, cutting off her sweet boyfriend’s words with a soft kiss.

* * *

  
    After Eruka had given Crona the snake and Lady Medusa’s instructions, the frog witch and the werewolf returned to the castle to report back to the senior witch. Free gave Eruka a quirked grin as they exited the hall after talking with Lady Medusa.  
     Eruka shook her head with a smile, recognizing that look as his I-wanna-role play look. “No.”  
     “No what? I didn’t say anything!” Free gave her his best innocently hurt look, which was actually surprisingly effective.  
    “Maybe not, but you’re thinking very loudly.” Eruka smirked as Free stuck his tongue out at her, wrinkling his nose as he pouted.  
     “Oh, come on!”  
     Eruka gave him a Look.  
     “Pretty please?” She shook her head again. He slid behind her, capturing her in his arms and whispering huskily into her ear. “Don’t you wanna… **_take me to wonderland_**?”  
     “Really? What kind of alternate history does Alice in Wonderland have?” Eruka turned her head to look at the giant, curious.  
     Free grinned sheepishly, shrugging. “I haven’t found that one out yet, but it does have a lot of eating and drinking in it, and I’m pretty hungry.”  
     “Why don’t we just go have lunch?” Free paused, a befuddled look crossing his face.  
     “I… I dunno, I guess it’d just be more fun my way?” Eruka shook her head again, smiling at her cute boyfriend.  
     “Well… I suppose that it should be a while before Lady Medusa calls us again…”

* * *

  
     Censored… Because the author can’t deal with writing full out sexual encounters yet… Censored…Censored…Censored…Censored… Especially not between Medusa and Stein... Censored…Censored…Censored…Censored…Censored…Censored…  
     “Stein, t- ** _take me to Wonderland_** …Nngh…”   
     The author just cringed at writing that...  
     Back to being censored…Censored…Censored…Censored… So on, so forth…  
     Yeah… You probably get the picture.  
     Contining onward…  
    

* * *

  
     Crona knew that there was a very large chance that Maka had lied to him earlier and that his fears were actually true, but he hadn’t been lying to Maka when he told her that he couldn’t stand to leave her twice. It had taken all he had to try to let her go this time, and that had hurt far worse than even the Vector Sword that Lady Medusa had shish-ka-bobbed him with.  
    So, selfish as it was, Crona wasn’t going to push Maka to make certain that she wasn’t just trying to spare his feelings, and was just going to enjoy her letting him be around her until the day she came to her senses and made him leave.  
    “-at do you think, Crona? Crona?” Crona started as Maka tapped his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Well?”  
    “S-sorry, what did y-you say?”  
    “I asked what you would like to do.” Maka smiled at him, emerald eyes sparkling. Crona frowned absently as he mulled the question over, knowing that when Maka asked him a question like that she expected an answer. It was one of the hardest things that she had insisted upon when they started dating. Maka had explained that by answering questions of what his personal preferences were, he would slowly build up his self esteem. However, all that it had done so far was let him find out that he really didn’t like cilantro or polka dancing [that had been an interesting evening] and that he did like hot sauce, his favorite game to play was Clue, and that he loved kissing Maka, resonating souls with Maka, doing just about anything with Maka…  
    “I d-don’t know. W-would you l-like to read s-something?”  
    “Sure! Anything in particular?” Crona’s eyes bulged out as Ragnaroc tore through his back, growling at Maka.  
    “What the hell is with you, anyway? If you think that fairytales are shit, then why the fuck do you read so much? All fiction is a fairytale of some sort, and I’ve heard you reading some pretty damn fantastical books to fucking depressed boy here,” boxing Crona’s ear almost absentmindedly, “so I know you don’t just read non fiction.”  
    Maka opened her mouth, looking fit to Maka-chop the loud Weapon across the room. Both boys cringed, Ragnaroc quickly ducking behind Crona’s head to use it as a shield between him and the irate girl. Suddenly, Maka closed her mouth, looking thoughtful. “You’re right, aren’t you? I had never thought of it like that before.”  
    Ragnaroc’s mouth dropped open for a moment in surprise before he caught himself and smirked. “Of course I’m right, flattie.”  
    Maka’s green eyes narrowed, shooting a look that clearly said ‘don’t push your luck’. Ragnaroc wisely followed that advice, dissolving into Crona before he began to accumulate bruises. Maka leaned her head back against her chair, staring at the ceiling.  
    “You know, books were always my way to escape.”  
    “Wh-what?”  
    “When my mom and dad decided to split, I was left almost completely alone. When I was with my parents, they would almost always be yelling at each other. So, I just started reading. When I read, I was able to temporarily escape the arguing, or the dead silence, or my mom’s crying, or the tense conversations. I could go to wherever I wanted, whether it was Australia or Winding Circle, and be whoever I wanted to be. I felt strong, and brave, and fearless, instead of being the weak, frightened little girl that I actually was.” Maka’s eyes were suspiciously watery as she continued to stare a hole in the ceiling, making Crona squirm uncomfortably.  
    What could he do to make her smile, to make that horribly dull sheen over her eyes disappear? He brightened slightly, remembering something. Crona concentrated, reaching out his soul to tap against hers.  
    Maka’s soul was unusually cold but as his touched hers, it heated up until it was warmer than usual, Maka’s head snapping over to stare at him in shocked surprise. He instantly retracted his soul, Crona’s face turning a deep shade of scarlet as he stuttered hurriedly, “S-sorry, sorry!”  
    “Why are you apologizing, Crona?” Maka beamed at him, sending his heart fluttering as quickly as the wings on a hummingbird. “Would you mind trying that again?”  
    Crona tapped the tips of his fingers together nervously, then took a deep breath and let his soul tentatively reach out to connect with Maka’s, her soul meeting his halfway. This resonation didn’t feel as almost uncomfortably electric as it had when Maka was sleeping, but it didn’t have the same lulling quality as it did when Maka made first contact either. Instead, it was strengthening and warming, making him feel like Maka’s very being was meshing with him. “W-wow…”  
     “No kidding…” Maka blinked, looking slightly stunned. Then she shook it off and smiled at him. “So, what would you like me to read?”  
     “W-would you **_take me to Wonderland_**?” Maka’s smile widened and she patted the seat next to her.  
     “Sure.” Crona lay down on the couch beside her, lightly resting his head on her lap as she began reading, their souls still intertwined comfortably. “Alice was growing bored..”

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So... What'd you think?  
> Please review and/or criticize; reviews keep me motivated to write, and criticisms help me write better.  
> If you have a request for a song fic, let me know. I can't promise that I'll write it if I don't like the song, but all requests will be seriously considered.  
> Thank you for reading my fic, and I hope you enjoyed it!


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